Texas Gold (4 page)

“I didn’t miss it. But I’ve learned that when a person says no, they usually just need more information.”

The last thing in the world she needed was more information. Any more information like he dished out would land her smack on her back, bare naked, caught up in some apocalyptic orgasm that would leave her damn near dead.

Oh Lord, she wanted more information. Lots more. Just not from him!

Nope. Out of the question. He had some nerve.

“Well, now, let me introduce you to my kind of no. It means exactly what it sounds like. No way. Nadda. N-O. Huh-uh.“ She shook her head for emphasis and for self-encouragement.

His smile said he didn’t believe her.

“Let me make things a little easier. This business proposition I have doesn’t translate well in a public venue like Charlie’s.” He waved his hand around the room and leaned forward again.
 

“Nina’s gone tonight. She’s with your niece actually. Maybe if we met at my house, we could discuss terms you’d be more comfortable with.”

She was so out of her league here.

“Or you could get the pleasure of driving out after me, building my hopes up and telling me to take my offer and go to hell once we got to my house. Either way. You choose.”

Now that was an idea. She needed to remember why she was here. He was the enemy. He was after her daddy’s job.
 

She took a deep breath.

“Let me make sure I understand. This whole meeting is a business proposition. So this is about more than you wanting me. This is about what I want, too?”

He nodded. “The basic rule in business agreements is compromise. There’s got to be something in it for you.”

 
“So if I follow you to your place, we can talk, even agree, maybe even write up in a contract what I want.”

His smile said he thought he’d won.

“Come home with me and we’ll negotiate to your heart’s content.”

Interesting. Intriguing. Insane.

Her brain screamed this was a trap. But when she closed her eyes she remembered the pride on her father’s face, remembered his hug.

She could do this. She had to do this.

“All right then, Mr. Millionaire. Let’s go negotiate.”

Chapter Three

“What the heck was he doing?”

Brenton watched Mallory’s headlights bump down the road in his rear view mirror. He might find success down this path, but it sure as hell wasn’t guaranteed.

He’d planned on showing her what a genuinely good guy he was. Planned on convincing her she should spend some time with him.

Within minutes it was obvious if he wanted her to get to know him, if he wanted to get to know her, he would have to force the issue.

And this was certainly one way of doing just that.

If she didn’t tell him to get lost.
 

He punched a button on his sun visor to open the gate to his drive and wondered exactly where this was headed.

He hadn’t lied. He did want Mallory Baber.
 

With the steam they’d been generating back at the diner, he knew what a relationship with her could be. And damn it would be good.

But faced with the reality, he wasn’t certain that was the best course of action. She’d be bargaining for her father’s job. And that was out of his hands. She’d also be bargaining for her home town. His plans weren’t changing there.

He wouldn’t lie to her about that.
 

But it didn’t change the simple fact that he wanted her like he’d never wanted another woman in his life. And he was used to getting what he wanted. He’d convince her. Just as he’d convinced her to come out here.

He pushed the garage door opener and drove his SUV in next to his new Thunderbird convertible. When he jumped out of the truck, Mallory was just pulling into the drive.

He met her as she opened her door and held out his hand to help her up.

She ignored him and shut her door.
 

“I’m glad you came.”

“I’m not sure that I am. Let’s just talk business.”

“Okay, business it is. I’ll show you around the house.”

He started up the walkway to the front door, past the perfectly manicured lawn and professionally landscaped gardens. She didn’t follow.

He turned to her, saw her indecision mirrored in the moonlight. “My house is the first in the new development. I plan on building more like it. You need to know what you’re fighting before you take it on, don’t you?”

Mallory looked at him standing on his ridiculously long drive, next to his ridiculously green lawn and his ridiculously huge house. And as she stared at the way the moonlight glanced off his hair, she wasn’t sure what she should do.
 

She was still struggling with the decision to get out of her car. Now that she was here, she might as well go for broke. Nodding, she allowed him to open the soft brown oak door with its stained glass window.

Doors like this didn’t belong in Serendipity.

He followed her inside, and she could only stare in amazement at the double rounded staircase that led up to an open entertainment center and hall.

Good grief!
 

He pointed up the stairs. “Nina’s room and the guest rooms are up their. I’ll show you those later if you want the tour.”

His words reminded her that she wasn’t here to admire his design. There would be a later, as in an after. After what, she wasn’t quite sure.
 

She wished he’d just get on with business. But he showed her the living room with its modern black metal and glass tables and black leather furniture. The lamps were black metal with white lamp shades. Throw rugs covered hard wood floors, and a huge fireplace was guarded by a black metal gate. She could imagine spending cold nights with him in front of that fireplace and the thought left her more than a little sweaty. How could he stroll around so nonchalantly as if this were an every day occurrence?

When he took her through the dining room, she’d almost missed the chandelier altogether because he’d knocked the table twice, turned around and winked at her in a way that made her heart step into double time and said, “You just never know what kind of trouble a good, sturdy table like this one will lead to.”

When he’d started down the hall off the left of the entry way, reality set in. He was taking her to his bedroom. They weren’t going to talk in some perfectly rational place like the living room.
 

She’d taken him to Charlie’s to start the negotiations. He was taking her to his bedroom to finish them.
 

He opened the first door on the left and beamed. This is the office. We’ll be back here in a minute or two.”

Relief flooded through her as she peeked her head in the door. True to his word, it was an office. Complete with desk, white board, computer. Other than its size, it looked like a regular old every day office. Nice and sterile. Not an ounce of passion and not a single good, sturdy table in sight.
 

But he didn’t stop there. He kept right on walking and opened the next door he came to.
 

When she just stoodoutside, he motioned her to follow. He sounded like a little kid showing off his favorite toys. “Come on. You can’t come all the way out here and not see this.”

When she still didn’t budge, he walked over to her and brushed her hair away from her forehead. Tilting her chin up, he met her eyes with his. They reminded her of the grass after a good April rain. She expected a kiss. Wanted a kiss if she were honest with herself.

She didn’t get it.

“Hey, come on. I promise not to bite you unless you ask.”

Hell would freeze over first, but she wasn’t about to tell him that. He’d take it as a challenge and have her naked in five seconds.

So she followed him in the room and could only stand speechless. A king-sized four poster cherry wood bed took up a major part of the room. The high ceilings made the room seem even bigger than it was.

A dresser was directly to her right, Nina’s picture on top along with myriad colognes and after shaves.
 

She could smell one as he stood beside her, his hand running up and down her back and causing all sorts of sexy
 
mental images in most of which he starred.
 

He, on the other hand, seemed completely unaffected. Probably because he was. After all, he was the multimillionaire developer. She was the coach with no boyfriends ever in her life except the two who married her friends and one major mistake in college.

Supermodels probably threw themselves at him. The only reason he wanted her was because she was the unattainable. The enemy.
 

He grabbed her arm and pulled her deeper into the room.

“Come on. The bath’s the best part.”

Reluctantly, she followed him again. He was right. A sunken tub, double shower, and walk-in closet. Lots of marble with gold accents. Pretty much a woman’s dream.

“It’s beautiful.”

He smiled like a proud parent, and she felt her heart sink.
 

“You can see why people would want this. And you can’t even see the view. That’s the best part.”

He was right, of course.

She was sunk before she even got started. He was going to ruin her hometown.

Dejection set in as his fingers brushed over her down turned lips sending waves of heat to every part of her body.

“Don’t frown. Didn’t you learn frowning causes wrinkles?”

She thought about telling him her life had pretty much been consumed with sports, but he didn’t give her a chance. Stepping closer to her, he pushed her up to the vanity and pressed against her as he slowly dropped his head.
 

The vanity lights gave her a weird sense of being on stage. The citrussy scent of soap filled the air and the hum of the air conditioner practically roared in her ears.

As his lips brushed her neck, she closed her eyes, willing this moment to last a lifetime because she couldn’t go on another.

With her eyes still closed, she shoved him away.
 

“I can’t do this.” She opened her eyes, took a deep breath and met his eyes again. “I just can’t. Not even to protect my father’s job.”

He didn’t fight her. Just stepped away as if he felt that kind of magic every single day of his life.

“This isn’t just about your father’s job.”

She shook her head, reusing the acknowledge that fact. ”That’s the only reason I’m here.”

He laughed. “You can tell yourself that.”

“Because it’s the truth.” She repeated those words silently. Refused to let any other reason make its way into her brain, no matter how hard her heart was beating, no matter how tingly her lips felt. This man was the enemy.
 

Finally he stepped back, looking every bit as disappointed as she suddenly felt as the cool air invaded the space he’d been. “I suppose it is.”

She nodded and turned her back, walked past the office and to the front door with its stained glass window.
 

Turning back to face him, she wanted to make sure he understood what her leaving meant. “I’m not conceding here. I’ll fight you with every breath I have.”

He smiled and she wondered what that smile meant. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

She knew his words were the truth. He loved an adversary. She gave him a focus.
 

She was working up a good bit of anger at his underhanded ruse of telling her they’d go back to his office by the time she got to her car. No good, dirty, rotten scum of a man. Just like him to stop mid-kiss and just stand there smiling like it was no big deal. Well, dammit, it was a big deal. The earth had moved.

She opened her car door ready to flip him the bird when he called out after her.

“Hey Mallory.”

She thought about ignoring him, but that would just show him how upset she was. “What?”

He was silhouetted by the house lights behind him, and even this far away, she could feel his pull. “Nothing’s changed. The proposition’s still on the table. This is just the first meeting.”

Tonight she’d proven she could handle him. If he was going to throw out challenges, she’d fling back a few of her own. “You know where you can stuff the proposition. There won’t be another meeting.”

As the gate swung open to allow her to leave, Mallory just kept repeating those words to herself. Lord help her if there was another meeting. She’d just have to make damn sure it never happened on his turf again. The man played dirty. Get him on her turf and she’d tear him up and spit him out.

Mallory didn’t feel much like tearing anything up the next morning when she awoke to pounding at her door. Well, except maybe the person who was out visiting before seven in the morning.

The person who had dared to wake her from the most delicious dream she’d had in her entire lifetime.

She covered her head with the pillow, trying to recapture the feeling of lips on her neck, but whoever was at the door was certainly persistent.

Ugh!

She grabbed her white terry cloth robe off the floor and told herself not to start cussing the minute she opened the door. She’d give whoever it was two minutes to explain getting her up early on the first day of her summer, and then she’d make up her mind.

Unless...

Her hand collided with the door handle at the same time the thought skittered through her mind.

Surely, surely it couldn’t be him.

She couldn’t handle seeing Brenton right now. Not after the dreams she’d spent all night trying to relive. If he showed up now, he’d have her at a complete disadvantage.

Hellfire and brimstone. If she opened the door and found him on the other side, she was dragging his sorry butt in her living room and stripping his clothes off in less than ten seconds.

And then she was going to demand, insist, command him to fulfill the promise of that kiss he’d started.
 

Why had she stopped him before his lips touched hers? She could have stopped him after. At least then she wouldn’t have spent all those moments between dreams wondering what a real kiss would have been like.